1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a plasma display panel including flexible substrates, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel having flexible substrates that can be sealed easily and stably as the flexible substrates are compression-coupled in a sealing area about a display area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as transmission of information has greatly increased due to the development of communication technologies and wide distribution of the Internet, ubiquitous display devices for use in public and private places have been introduced. In order to realize such display environments, display devices must be freely installed in various spaces.
Conventional plasma display panels including substrates formed of a non-flexible material, such as a rigid glass, are thick, heavy, and inflexible. Areas in which rigid plasma display panels can be used are limited, and thus, ongoing research is dedicated to plasma display panels using substrates formed of flexible materials so as to provide flexible plasma display panels for use in non-traditional locations.
Plasma display panels are flat panel display devices displaying images using a gas discharge phenomenon, and have superior characteristics, such as high image quality, ultra-thin thickness, light weight, and wide viewing angle all in a large screen. In addition, plasma display panels can be easily fabricated and can have large sizes. Therefore, the plasma display panels are considered to be the next generation of large panel displays.
In general, a plasma display panel includes a discharge gas injected into a plurality of discharge spaces formed between a pair of substrates. The discharge gas generates ultraviolet rays when electrons of the discharge gas are excited by a voltage potential. The ultraviolet rays then excite electrons in phosphor materials disposed in the discharge spaces, which then emit visible rays. The discharge spaces are arranged and driven so as to display still or moving images.
A process of fabricating the conventional plasma display panel having the rigid glass substrate includes sealing the pair of substrates using a sealing material, such as a frit glass. To seal the pair of substrates together, frit in a melted or a paste state is applied along edges of the substrates using a printing method or a dispensing method, and then, dried and baked. When the sealing of substrates is completed, an impurity gas in the plasma display panel is released and purged, and a discharge gas is filled in the panel.
As described above, the sealing member must stably couple the substrates and maintain an airtight seal of the panel so that the discharge gas can be filled and maintained in the plasma display panel.
The conventional sealing method using frit can stably couple the conventional rigid glass substrates; however, such frit is not suitable for the plasma display panel having flexible substrates.
As the frit is a glass material, it becomes rigid after drying and baking are effected on the substrates.
If the frit glass is applied on the flexible substrates, the flexibility of the substrates may be degraded. In addition, when the frit is baked after it is applied on the substrates, the frit can shrink. Thus, the frit or the substrate may break and the substrates are not firmly sealed, resulting in degraded sealing of the substrates and increased complexity of the sealing of the substrates.